KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
1. Where the speed itself is so high the case proceeds to court and the guidelines (above) say that the court should consider a ban.
2. When somebody reaches 12 points they are at risk of a minimum six-month ban – but even then, a ban is not inevitable. The courts have the discretion not to disqualify if they believe that a ban would cause you exceptional hardship.
CAN I CHALLENGE A SPEEDING OFFENCE IN COURT?
Yes. If you’re offered a fixed penalty or a speed awareness course, you don’t have to accept it. You can reject and take the case to court. Although if you’re on nine points already or the speed is too high, the case will automatically proceed to court anyway, so you’ll have no choice.
CAN I SEE EVIDENCE BEFORE CASE GETS TO COURT?
You can ask the police for it, but you are not legally entitled to see the evidence until the case gets to court and you have entered a not guilty plea.
It can be a tough decision. If, for example, you were recorded travelling at 32mph in a 20mph limit, you will be offered a fixed penalty of three points. If you reject that offer and take your chances at court and lose, then you’ll end up with higher fines and costs, and a minimum of four points because of Sentencing Guidelines.
WHAT ARE THE TIME LIMITS?
When a speeding offence is committed a NIP must be served either verbally at the roadside or at the registered keeper’s last known address within 14 days.
NOTE: receiving it out of the 14 days does not automatically mean you can challenge it. A NIP is not needed in 14 days if the keeper has for example moved but failed to update the V5 with the new address, or if it’s a lease car so you’re not the registered keeper. However if you are the registered keeper and it’s registered at your current address, and you didn’t receive that first request perhaps due to postal problems, you may be able to rebut the presumption the letter was served on you and you may be able to challenge it.
After that initial time limit, there is no deadline for the police to give you the offer of a course or fixed penalty. If the case is going to court they must lay the charges within six months. This means they must instigate the proceedings within six months – not that you have to receive the court papers within six months.
WHAT HAPPENS AT COURT?
The first thing you would receive is a Court Summons called a Single Justice Procedure Notice, asking you to
PHTM SEPTEMBER 2023
plead guilty or not guilty. At this stage, you have a decision to make.
If you plead guilty, you have the best chance of keeping the sentence to a minimum. You will receive 1/3 off of any fine, lower prosecution costs, and have the best chance of avoiding a ban if you’re at risk of one.
The alternative is to plead not guilty. This means the case is listed for a trial in the Magistrates’ Court. This will trigger the prosecution to serve all of the evidence, meaning you then have the opportunity to scrutinise their case. There are two ways to win a case – either to argue that the prosecution does not have enough evidence to convict you (e.g. because their camera wasn’t working), or you advance a positive defence case (e.g. ‘yes I was speeding, but it was a medical emergency’).
Signage issues are common points of concern. Where for example there are a lack of signs in the area, or signs are covered by foliage this can lead to a defence (if you have evidence). If you have been caught by a camera, or by an officer following you, then the evidence will be in the form of witness statements, footage or pictures, depending on how they have recorded you. If you are advancing a medical emergency, then you will need medical evidence.
Before you plead not guilty – seek legal advice. We never advise anyone to take a speeding offence to court unless they have an argument to run – and this will entirely depend on the case’s own specific facts. All too often, we see people take a case to court on a punt – hoping the police won’t serve evidence or simply asking for photographs – and then end up with more points, more f ines and more costs, all for no reason.
We have seen cases where people have taken a case to court and asked for calibration because of a case they read on the internet – and ended up with over £5,000 in prosecution expert fees. So if you are considering challenging a speeding offence, seek legal advice before you do!
WILL THE CHANGE AFFECT ENGLAND & SCOTLAND?
At the moment, no. So far, all we have seen in England and Scotland is an increase in 20 limit roads – so roads that have 20 limit signs at their entry and regular repeaters. But restricted roads remain at 30.
In Wales, the law has changed so that restricted roads have officially been lowered.
There are no concrete plans for the same change to happen across the UK, but it surely won’t be long before discussions start….
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